Bevo's Roundup - October 14, 2010

"We thought our offense would grow with Garrett," Brown said. 
"We liked a lot of things he did in the second half against Oklahoma." 

Maybe there is hope?

After reviewing videotapes during the Longhorns' bye week, offensive coordinator Greg Davis declared himself "negligent" of freeing Gilbert to make big plays in the early stages of games because he focused too much on building his confidence with short completions.

"Can we let him throw the ball vertically a little bit more?" Greg Davis said. "The answer is, 'Yes.' ... Even if you don't hit those balls, it sends a message about vertical throws that may open up something underneath. Early in games, we have not cut it loose as much as we should have."

Our deepest apologies. The Horns have disappointed all of college football.

The talk about Saturday’s Texas-Nebraska matchup began all the way back in December. Anticipation and buzz seemed to multiply as the offseason went on, the game being hyped in some circles as a potential classic.

Never was the teams’ ability to compete discussed. Of course this would be a fair fight, the thinking went. But with Nebraska beating opponents by better than 27 points per game, and with Texas facing its first three-game losing streak in coach Mack Brown’s tenure, the talk has changed. What was once billed as a clash of titans now screams blowout.

"I haven’t heard anybody say that we have a chance," Brown said at his Monday press conference in Austin.

Prepare for the Blackshirts.

In case you haven't heard, Taylor Martinez is fast.

All because of a quarterback who says he hasn’t been timed in the 40 since his junior year of high school in Corona, Calif. It was "low 4.4s" Martinez said after the K-State game.

The comparisons abound. Taylor Martinez = Vince Young.

In likening Martinez to former Texas great Vince Young, Brown said it's not just the speed, but football speed that is the distinguishing quality.

"Some people are track fast, but others are fast in pads," Brown said. "When they run it seems like everybody else is in slow motion. Vince was that way. He didn't get hit very often."

That's Martinez, who is averaging an incredible 34.9 yards on his nation's best 12 rushing touchdowns. In 2009, the Huskers had six touchdown runs of 10 yards or longer. This year they have 15.

Really? Texas' defense needs to stop Taylor Martinez.

The Longhorns hope that source of motivation for Saturday's game in Lincoln is exactly what they've needed.

"You want a great opportunity and you want a great challenge," Muschamp said. "That's why you play the game."

It's not as though UT has been playing terribly on defense. Even after the Longhorns' two brief lapses, they rank sixth nationally in total defense, and 19th against the run.

But they've yet to face a threat quite like Martinez, who set a school single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 241 last week against Kansas State. In addition, the Cornhuskers' two running backs — Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead — are each averaging more than 70 yards per game.

Emmanuel Acho doesn't seem to be worried.

"It's another game, it's another team, he's another quarterback," Acho said. "It's not about what he does, it's about what we do. He's a good player. I'll leave it at that.

"There's nothing – if we play to Texas standards – nothing that we should be too worried about."

Worst headline of the UT-NU game:

Cornhuskers try to take Big 12 by the 'Horns

Not much creativity in Tulsa.

The stork is back in Stillwater. The Pokes have a new set of triplets.

Maybe there's something in the water at Oklahoma State. Must be something, to create such a fertile ground for triplets.

Talk is already turning to the next trio. And forget Generation Next, the Cowboys may be presenting Generation Now:

Weeden, Hunter and Justin Blackmon.

We feel your pain. OSU is struggling on third downs.

The Cowboys rank No. 90 nationally in third down conversion defense, allowing opponents to convert 43.48 percent of the time. And the Pokes aren't much better when teams go for it on fourth down, allowing conversions 58.33 percent of the time, ranking No. 73 nationally.

Never take a Land Thief seriously. Stewart Mandel works through his mailbag this week.

Shouldn't we be taking Oklahoma more seriously? -- Drew, Boston

If one were to vote for a new No. 1 team based purely on résumé-to-date, it'd be hard to argue against Oklahoma. The Sooners scheduled ambitiously out-of-conference, and are undefeated against Sagarin's No. 15 schedule. That SOS is higher than for any of the other undefeated teams. And OU's 47-17 rout of Florida State looks that much more impressive now that FSU crushed Miami last weekend. But the Sooners' defense has been shaky and they had trouble closing out teams like Cincinnati and Utah State. Because these are humans voting and not computers, they've shown more confidence so far in No. 4/5 Nebraska -- which hasn't played anyone of note, but is blowing people out behind Taylor Martinez's heroics -- than No. 6 Oklahoma, which has looked more mortal while playing a much tougher schedule.

Just two more wins and the Bears can go bowling.

The Baylor Bears (4-2, 1-1) are coming off their first Big 12 loss of the season, a 45-38 contest last week.  This Saturday the Bears travel to Boulder to take on the Colorado Buffaloes (3-2, 0-1).  With the Bears two victories away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 1994, Baylor head coach Art Briles knows that every game is crucial for his team to reach their goal.

"Colorado is traditionally a very, very strong football team through the years," Briles said of Colorado. "They have always done a great job, especially up there, and they have won a lot of big games, even in the last 4 or 5 years.  So we know we are in for a really tough atmosphere, a tough opponent, and anytime you get into Big 12 play, each week is a war.  So, we are setting ourselves up for another war."

The overriding Aggie theme this season is turnovers.

The dominant storyline for the Aggies during this 2010 season remains to be the struggles of the offense in ball security, particularly in the play of senior quarterback Jerrod Johnson who last year sparked the offense to a No. 5 national ranking in 2009. 

After a mistake-free game to open the season against an over-matched Stephen F. Austin, Johnson and the Aggie offense have been a comedy of errors committing a total of 18 turnovers in the past four games.  That ranks the Aggies second-to-last in the NCAA at No. 119.  While the rejuvenated Texas A&M defense has held up under the stress of protecting short fields due to these miscues, head coach Mike Sherman indicated that a turnover also limits the team's scoring opportunities.

It was a good thing Nike didn't want to outfit the Aggies.

Bob is shocked and disturbed by all this agent business.

Stoops calls SI's agent story 'very disturbing'

Sooner coach Bob Stoops admitted he hasn't had a chance to read George Dohrmann's tell-all article in Sports Illustrated detailing how former sports agent Josh Luchs paid players.

There is a new crisis in the country. Agentgate.

On the heels of NCAA sanctions at USC, where former star Reggie Bush accepted benefits from a trio of sports marketers, AgentGate -- as the summer's confluence of headlines became known -- has elicited national debate over a long-dormant issue. Nick Saban famously called agents "pimps" at SEC Media Days and organized conference calls with NFL officials to discuss the issue. Various agents fired back in defense of their industry. Some lauded the NCAA for finally "getting tough" about agent rules. Others wondered why it took this long.

Will anything actually change?

Was it a shock? No. Not for those of us who cover college athletics, not for those who work in college athletics, perhaps not even for most fans. But there is a difference between suspecting something and learning the real story.

Regardless of his motivations, Luchs pulled the inner workings of an oily business out of the shadows. He showed us how long it's been going on and how pervasive the problem is. (And as bad as it is in football, multiply it by 1,000 and you have college basketball.)

Josh Luchs has some idea about what, if anything, can be done about agents.

Ole Miss has a new mascot.

And finally...

Always entertaining. Bob Knight being Bob Knight.

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